# 1968 American Football League season

The 1968 AFL season was the ninth regular season of the American Football League, and its penultimate season prior to the AFL–NFL merger.
The season ended when the New York Jets (11–3) defeated the Oakland Raiders (12–2) in the AFL championship game on December 29 at Shea Stadium in New York City. Two weeks later, the Jets defeated the National Football League's Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in one of the biggest sports upsets in history.
The season was also notable as the inaugural season of the Cincinnati Bengals, which expanded the AFL to ten teams.
In anticipation of the merger, all AFL on-field officials wore uniforms similar to those used in the NFL.

## Division races

With the addition of the Cincinnati Bengals, the AFL's ten teams were split equally into two divisions. Each played a home-and-away game against the other four teams in its division, one game against each of the five teams in the opposite division, and a second game against one of the other division's teams.
As with the previous eight seasons, the best record in the Eastern Division played the best in the Western Division in the AFL championship game, with the site alternating between the divisions; the Eastern division hosted in even-numbered years. If there was tie at the top of either division standings (as happened when Oakland and Kansas City both finished at 12–2), a one-game playoff was held to determine the division winner. The Jets, with the third-best record in the league in 1968, had a week off and hosted the title game.
| Week | Eastern | Record | Western | Record |
| 1 | Boston | 1–0–0 | Tie (KC, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Tie (Bos, NYJ) | 1–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 1–0–0 |
| 3 | N.Y. Jets | 2–0–0 | Tie (Oak, SD) | 2–0–0 |
| 4 | Tie (Bos, NY) | 2–1–0 | Oakland | 3–0–0 |
| 5 | N.Y. Jets | 3–1–0 | Oakland | 4–0–0 |
| 6 | N.Y. Jets | 3–2–0 | Kansas City | 5–1–0 |
| 7 | N.Y. Jets | 4–2–0 | Kansas City | 6–1–0 |
| 8 | N.Y. Jets | 5–2–0 | Kansas City | 7–1–0 |
| 9 | N.Y. Jets | 6–2–0 | Kansas City | 7–2–0 |
| 10 | N.Y. Jets | 7–2–0 | Kansas City | 8–2–0 |
| 11 | N.Y. Jets | 7–3–0 | Kansas City | 9–2–0 |
| 12 | N.Y. Jets | 8–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 9–2–0 |
| 13 | N.Y. Jets | 9–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 10–2–0 |
| 14 | N.Y. Jets | 10–3–0 | Tie (KC, Oak) | 11–2–0 |
| 15 | N.Y. Jets | 11–3–0 | (tie) Kansas City | 12–2–0 |
| | | | Oakland | 12–2–0 |

## Regular season

The Cincinnati Bengals joined the league as an expansion team.

### Results

| Home/Road | Home/Road | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Eastern Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division | Western Division |
| Home/Road | Home/Road | BOS | BUF | HOU | MIA | NY | CIN | DEN | KC | OAK | SD |
| Eastern | Boston Patriots | | 23–6 | 0–16 | 10–34 | 31–47* | 33–14 | 14–35 | | | 17–27 |
| Eastern | Buffalo Bills | 7–16 | | 7–30 | 17–21 | 37–35 | | | 7–18 | 6–48 | 6–21 |
| Eastern | Houston Oilers | 45–17 | 35–6 | | 7–24 | 14–20 | | 38–17 | 21–26 | 15–24 | |
| Eastern | Miami Dolphins | 38–7 | 14–14 | 10–24 | | 7–31 | 21–38 | | 3–48 | 21–47 | |
| Eastern | New York Jets | 48–14 | 25–21 | 26–7 | 35–17 | | 27–14 | 13–21 | | | 23–20 |
| Western | Cincinnati Bengals | | 34–23 | 17–27 | 22–24 | | | 24–10 | 9–16 | 0–34 | 10–31 |
| Western | Denver Broncos | 17–20 | 34–32 | | 21–14 | | 10–7 | | 7–30 | 7–43 | 23–47 |
| Western | Kansas City Chiefs | 31–17 | | 24–10 | | 19–20 | 13–3 | 34–2 | | 24–10 | 27–20 |
| Western | Oakland Raiders | 41–10 | 13–10 | | | 43–32 | 31–10 | 33–27 | 38–21 | | 14–23 |
| Western | San Diego Chargers | | | 30–14 | 34–28 | 15–37 | 29–13 | 55–24 | 3–40 | 27–34 | |
(*) Played at Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama since Boston Red Sox refused to rent Fenway Park to Patriots.

### Standings

AFL Eastern Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| New York Jets | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 7–1 | 419 | 280 | W4 |
| Houston Oilers | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 5–3 | 303 | 248 | W2 |
| Miami Dolphins | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 4–3–1 | 276 | 355 | L1 |
| Boston Patriots | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 2–6 | 229 | 406 | L2 |
| Buffalo Bills | 1 | 12 | 1 | .077 | 1–6–1 | 199 | 367 | L8 |
AFL Western Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| Oakland Raiders | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 6–2 | 453 | 233 | W8 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 7–1 | 371 | 170 | W5 |
| San Diego Chargers | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 5–3 | 382 | 310 | L2 |
| Denver Broncos | 5 | 9 | 0 | .357 | 1–7 | 275 | 404 | L3 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 3 | 11 | 0 | .214 | 1–7 | 215 | 329 | L3 |

## Playoffs

| Western Division playoff December 22 | Western Division playoff December 22 | Western Division playoff December 22 | AFL Championship Game December 29 | AFL Championship Game December 29 | AFL Championship Game December 29 |
| | | | E | at New York Jets | 27 |
| W | Kansas City Chiefs | 6 | W | Oakland Raiders | 23 |
| W | at Oakland Raiders | 41 | | | |

### Super Bowl

In an upset, the New York Jets, defeated the Baltimore Colts, 16–7, at Orange Bowl in Miami, on January 12, 1969.

## Stadium changes

* The expansion Cincinnati Bengals began play at Nippert Stadium.
* Bears Stadium, home of the Denver Broncos, was renamed Mile High Stadium after the city took control of the venue.
* The Houston Oilers moved from Rice Stadium to the Astrodome.

## Coaching changes
### Offseason

* Cincinnati Bengals: Paul Brown was the expansion team's first head coach.

### In-season

* Buffalo Bills: Joe Collier was fired after two games; he was replaced by director of player personnel Harvey Johnson.